Freedom and Security

We can strike a balance on civil liberties.

By

Laurence H. Tribe

Updated Sept. 29, 2001 11:59 p.m. ET

The monstrous attack on America that took the lives of thousands on Sept. 11, 2001, sent waves of anguish through the nation, setting in motion a response whose outlines we are just beginning to sketch. The way we complete that sketch will determine whether the terrorists will destroy, more than lives and towering structures, the very foundations of our freedom.

To watch Congress take up a complex set of antiterrorism measures with lightning speed, with the usually lumbering Senate passing the whole legislative package in...